Juror Flirting With John Edwards
Obama's Pot-Smoking Detailed
The school's bid to keep kids fueled with nutritious foods -- and keep rising obesity levels at bay -- is one example of an initiative that's helping Oregon youngsters maintain good health. The state earned top marks in a new survey comparing rates of overweight and obese children in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2003 to 2007. It's the first study to compare weight among states and track changes over time.
Danny Johnston, AP
Children exercise with hula hoops in Little Rock, Ark. The state is disproportionately affected by childhood obesity.
In the study's four-year span, the rate of children's obesity in Oregon dropped 32 percent, to 9.6 percent.
But nationwide, the news is grim.
"The prevalence of obesity continues to increase among children across the country," Dr. Gopal Singh, the study's lead author, said in an interview with AOL News.
Singh's research team, whose work is published in this week's Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, used data from the National Survey of Children's Health, which included information on 46,707 children age 10 to 17 in 2003, and 44,101 children in 2007.
Of all the study participants in 2007, 31.6 percent were overweight, with 16.4 percent of those falling into the obese category, according to metrics established by the body mass index, or BMI.
But the weight woes weren't distributed equally across the country. In Mississippi, the state with the highest prevalence of obese children, 21.9 percent met the criteria for obesity. Kids in two other southeastern states, Arkansas and Alabama, were also disproportionately affected.
It's a trend that aligns with rates of obesity for their parents: Mississippi, for instance, is also home to the largest percentage of overweight or obese adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When also including overweight kids, prevalence varied from a low of 23.1 percent in Utah to a high of 44.5 percent in -- again -- Mississippi.
The study is even more startling than a recent CDC report that estimated 18.1 percent of kids age 12 to 19 were overweight or obese in 2008.
According to Singh and his colleagues at the Health Resources and Services Administration, the prevalence of obesity among American kids has increased by an average of 10 percent across the country, with notable surges of 46 percent for children in Arizona and 32 percent for children in Illinois.
"Oregon was the only state to demonstrate a significant decline," Singh said. "We didn't do an in-depth analysis of the state, but we want our research to spur states to evaluate how they can emulate regions like Oregon that are succeeding."
Changes in the rates of female obesity were significantly higher than in male obesity, with the number of obese girls shooting up by 18 percent nationwide. The study didn't speculate on the reason for the difference, but Singh told AOL News that girls might just be playing catch-up.
"Boys already have higher rates of obesity across the country," he said.
More overweight girls could pose a unique challenge for public health interventions, as it's already well established that girls exercise less than boys. In an international study released in March, researchers concluded that only 15 percent of girls were adequately active, compared with 25 percent of boys.
And public health officials would be wise to check out Singh and company's study, which offers much more than a state-by-state snapshot. Researchers also examined key factors in children's weight control, including household income, access to parks and sidewalks, physical activity, and use of televisions and computers.
They offer more evidence that, at least to some extent, household interventions could make a significant difference in the health of American kids.
Children who watched more than two hours of TV a day had a 48 percent increased risk of being obese. Similarly, those who didn't partake in physical exercise were 32 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than those who were active five days a week.
But some factors are more challenging to address, Singh said, and come down to issues of access and relative prosperity.
"Kids who don't have access to park spaces are 24 percent more likely to be obese," he said. "If your neighborhood conditions don't allow for changes, then your kids will be at greater risk."
